They Thought They Were Doing the Right Thing

Scripture:

Luke 11:42   “But woe to you Pharisees! For you tithe mint and rue and herbs of all kinds, and neglect justice and the love of God; it is these you ought to have practiced, without neglecting the others. ⁴³ Woe to you Pharisees! For you love to have the seat of honor in the synagogues and to be greeted with respect in the marketplaces. ⁴⁴ Woe to you! For you are like unmarked graves, and people walk over them without realizing it.”

Observation:

The emphasis for Jesus was always on the way in which people lived their lives. They were to reflect God’s love to the world around them. The Pharisee had invited Jesus to his home but Jesus had not practiced the ritual hand-washing. The Pharisee was offended, and Jesus knew it. Going on, Jesus spoke three woes to the Pharisees. The rituals and rules had become more important to them than living out the character of God among the people. While the people were admonished to tithe, they were tithing certain items did not need to be tithed, and that included some herbs. In other words, the Pharisees were going above and beyond the law of God, but they had done this without regarding love of God and justice. Jesus was saying, “Who cares if you tithe your herbs if you do not act justly in the world!”

Jesus continues the use of irony, and it reveals how far apart the practices of the Pharisees are from what God really desires. The second “woe” from Jesus was critical of the attention that the Pharisees loved to receive. Even the Pharisee that had invited Jesus home had probably done so to get attention. Jewish tradition had created greetings for people who were considered of higher position than others. Therefore, when someone met a Pharisee they had to stop and give them due respect. This helps us understand the subversion in Jesus’ previous instruction to the seventy when he told them not to stop and greet those on the road, because this would become a distraction to their mission. 

The third “woe” is really a declaration that while these Pharisees think they are clean, they are actually unclean. Their tithing practices are not making them clean, but rather, their lack of practicing justice and love of God has made them unclean. Unwittingly people are becoming unclean by association with them. One can only imagine the anger that poured out from the Pharisees to hear these words. 

 

Application:

Lest we are too hard on the Pharisees, we might just find ourselves in the same position. They believed that they were the protectors of the Israelites and the true proponents of holiness. They thought that their holiness would help all of God’s people be holy. That’s why his words would have ben so offensive. Jesus was certainly stepping on their toes when he suggested that they were actually the ones contaminating the people. 

What went wrong? The problem arose when they became so obsessed with the rules that they forgot the intent behind them. They forgot to love God. They forgot to practice justice. In forgetting these, they became far too concerned with themselves and what others thought of them. Love and justice were lacking in their demeanor and the ways in which they treated others. 

Sometimes we can become caught up in defending or doing what we think is right. This becomes a problem when defending the “thing” leads us to a place of rigidity and the result is an unjust response to the needs of the world. The word “justice” is getting pretty beaten up these days because of political influences. Let’s not become guilty of failing to love God and practice justice because we have become hung up on words. I think Jesus might say that’s like tithing mint! What Jesus really wants from his people, is that we love God with all our heart, and love our neighbors by treating them justly. You cannot erase justice from the Bible, and as Jesus’ disciples, we follow him and his leading, found in his word. The world’s definitions do not influence our responses or behaviors, but we do respond because of the admonition from Jesus. As disciples we live lives poured out in love for him and our broken world. 

Prayer:

Lord, I’m afraid there have been times when I have been tempted to proudly show you my tithe of mint. Help me to reflect my love for you in the way that I treat others. Amen.